


Christmas Magic

by Smackofjellyfish



Series: Doctor Who Romance [6]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms
Genre: F/M, Regency, Regency Romance, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-09-26 13:13:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 2,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17142392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smackofjellyfish/pseuds/Smackofjellyfish
Summary: I just feel in my heart that the Tenth Doctor and a Regency romance is the most Christmassy thing ever.





	1. Prompt: December 24: Christmas Eve - anticipation, waiting, an arrival, a return

**Author's Note:**

> **Warning: Romance genre ahead! Kissing and a happy ending, as always.**
> 
> Interconnected 100-ish-word fics (drabbles) for the [Twelvetide Drabbles 2018](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/TwelvetideDrabbles2018) challenge. For every drabble posted to the challenge between December 24, 2017-January 6, 2018, the challenge curator ([elizajane](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elizajane)) will donate to the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS).
> 
> Prompts given each day of the challenge:
> 
> 12/24: Christmas Eve - anticipation, waiting, an arrival, a return  
> 12/25: Christmas Day - gifts, surprise, change, something new  
> 12/26: St. Stephen’s Day - caskets, headaches, horses  
> 12/27: St. John the Apostle - loyalty, friendship, booksellers, authors, scholars  
> 12/28: Feast of the Holy Innocents - grief, mourning, loss  
> 12/29: St. Thomas Becket - clergy, church/monastery/abbey, atonement, scourging  
> 12/30: St. Egwin - fish, water, key, unlocked/set free  
> 12/31: St. Sylvester - forest, cave, dragon  
> 1/1: Mary, the Mother of Jesus - parents / meet the parents / parenting  
> 1/2: St. Basil - hospitals, schools, exorcism  
> 1/3: Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus - naming, nickname, pet names  
> 1/4: St. Simeon - solitude, contemplation, withdrawn/withdrawal  
> 1/5: Twelfth Night - feast, party, festival, celebration  
> 1/6: Epiphany - realization, sudden understanding

Euphrenia Bright sat on the window seat in her room, looking out from her family’s London townhouse over the park across the street. Snow fell lightly from the dark sky, mirroring the dusting of beads on her gown.

Effie waited, perched lightly on the cushion, as she did every Christmas Eve. Expectation quickened her breath.

Each year the blue box appeared in the far corner of the park, like magic, or a gift. It simply sat there for a time, then disappeared, and she did not know why she so looked forward to its appearance. But she did.

She hoped this year would be no different. But in less than an hour, she would accompany her family to the neighbors’ ball. Time was running out.


	2. Prompt: December 25: Christmas Day - gifts, surprise, change, something new

The blue box had not appeared before she had to leave. 

Despite her disappointment, Effie danced for hours at the ball, including three times with the handsome but rather boorish Duke of Avondale. She laughed and talked with her friends, and they snuck off to the library to sample the whiskey there, giggling by the cozy fire. 

Truly, being a widow allowed for great freedom, and she enjoyed it despite the tragic event that had granted her this status.

Now she stood by the window, gazing out once more at the park, and what she had been waiting for appeared. The blue box.

But this time, the door opened, and a man stepped outside.


	3. Prompt: December 26: St. Stephen’s Day - caskets, headaches, horses

Effie stared out the window, stunned. The man gazed back at her from across the park. He was slight but even more handsome than the Duke of Avondale, and his eyes twinkled with humor and intelligence. He tilted his head at her as if in a question.

She knew the answer.

She ran to make her excuses to her mother. A headache, severe enough that she must return home.

Grabbing her cloak and sparing only a quick glance for her delicate slippers, she ran out into the snow. When she reached the man, he took her hand to his lips and bowed.

"Merry Christmas, Effie. I’m the Doctor."


	4. Prompt: December 27: St. John the Apostle - loyalty, friendship, booksellers, authors, scholars

“How do you know my name?”

The Doctor tugged at her hand, encouraging her to walk with him. She could hear carolers singing in the distance. 

“I’ve been watching over you, Effie.”

She frowned. “Watching  _ over _ me… not simply watching me?” The one sounded comforting, the other less so.

He grinned and squeezed her hand. She could admit that she felt a slight thrill at the pressure. “Definitely watching  _ over. _ For the last several Christmases. I promised your husband before he died.” 

  
  
  



	5. Prompt: December 28: Feast of the Holy Innocents - grief, mourning, loss

“You knew my husband.”

“Only just before he died, ten Christmases ago. He asked me to check on you, and so I have.”

“He was a good man. But… I did not love him. Not truly.” She didn’t know why, but with him she could speak the words she had never admitted aloud.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see the Doctor shrug. “There are many forms of love. You may not have been in love with him, but you clearly cared for him and he cared for you. That is love, as well.”

Effie nodded, and felt a weight lift from her. It was true. She had loved her husband, if not in the romantic way. She had cared. She stopped, and turned to face the Doctor.

“But… for _ten_ years? Surely you could see that I was well? Why continue to come every year?”


	6. Prompt: December 29: St. Thomas Becket - clergy, church/monastery/abbey, atonement, scourging

They walked to an old church, bells chiming a last late night carol. The snow muffled the sound and the music was melancholy and beautiful.

The Doctor was silent, and finally she turned to face him. He appeared… embarrassed.

“At first I watched over you, as I’d promised,” he said. “I told myself I wouldn’t intervene unless something was wrong. Just check in. But then--I don’t know. I kept coming back. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry if this is strange for you. I know it must be.”

Effie watched him, waiting.

“I thought maybe…” he continued. “I thought you might…”


	7. Prompt: December 30: St. Egwin - fish, water, key, unlocked/set free

The church door at the top of the steps beside them opened, the doorway black as night. The Doctor grinned and pulled her up the steps and inside. 

“Come on!”

The interior was dark, lit only by votive candles in each window. She moved closer to the Doctor, his warmth and solidity comforting. And, she thought, much more than that. She turned to look at his profile in the dim light, wondering how she could feel these things for a man she had only just met.

They walked quietly to a door inside a small alcove and down several steps. In the room below, the darkness completely enveloped them.


	8. Prompt: December 31: St. Sylvester - forest, cave, dragon

As her eyes adjusted to the cave-like room, she could see the painting of St. George and the Dragon on the wall. The saint was obscured by some object in front of the painting, and the dragon appeared as if it was guarding the object itself.

It was the TARDIS.

“How did it come to be here?” Effie gasped.

The Doctor smiled the pulled her closer. “I called her. This blue box is what I travel in. Across the stars, to other worlds. And through time.”

He was so close she could feel his breath on her face. If she inched only slightly closer...

“Effie, I want you to come with me.”


	9. Prompt: January 1: Mary, the Mother of Jesus - parents / meet the parents / parenting

Effie pulled away, shocked and confused. 

“Come with you?” She glanced up as if she could see the sky from within the small, dark room. “To the stars? Through time? I…”

The Doctor held fast to her hand, the wistful expression on his face barely visible. “Effie…”

“I cannot,” she said instinctively, fearful of the unknown. She grasped onto the first thing that came to mind. “My parents--I can’t leave them. They’re getting older… They need me.” 

Refusing him felt wrong, and her own confusion and strangeness of the night overwhelmed her.

“I’m sorry,” she gasped, and turned and ran up the steps, down the church aisle, and out the door.


	10. Prompt: January 2: St. Basil - hospitals, schools, exorcism

Effie ran all the way home, the crisp air burning her cheeks and whipping the tears from her eyes. She found herself in the room where, as a child, her governess had taught her. It was a parlor now, but a small shelf still held the books from which she had learned.

She picked one up and leafed through the pages, smiling at the uneven letters she had scrawled years ago in the margins. How small her world had been then. How small it remained, compared to what the Doctor has seen.

“You’ve returned.”

Effie started at her mother’s voice. She had been caught, clearly not upstairs in her room suffering from a headache.


	11. Prompt: January 3: Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus - naming, nickname, pet names

“I saw you run across the park to him, butterfly.” Effie smiled at the old nickname. Her mother had always said she was like a butterfly, needing to be on the move, to be free. 

“I’ve seen him, too, you know. One year I even went out to speak to him. He said that when the time was right, he would take you with him.”

“I can’t leave you!” Effie protested. 

“The Doctor,” her mother smiled at Effie’s surprise at her use of his name. “Oh yes, I know who he is. Butterfly, you don’t belong here wasting your life like this. You have a chance to be who you were meant to be, to do things I can only dream of. Don’t let that chance slip away.”

With a kiss to Effie’s forehead, she left the room.


	12. Prompt: January 4: St. Simeon - solitude, contemplation, withdrawn/withdrawal

Effie stood by the window, contemplating her mother’s words.

Was she wasting her life her? She’d thought she was helping, being a dutiful daughter. But perhaps her duty to her parents included truly living her life--finding her own way.

She had made a terrible mistake.

“Oh,” her mother’s head again appeared around the doorway. “I saw him, you know. Before I left the ball. He was there.”

Before the barely knew what she was doing, Effie grabbed her cloak and ran out the door toward the neighbor’s house.


	13. Prompt: January 5: Twelfth Night - feast, party, festival, celebration

Effie’s shoes were dirty and wet with snow, but she ignored the butler’s sniff at her disheveled appearance as she handed him her cloak. In the ballroom, guests were still dancing and small groups of revelers congregated at the sides of the room. Bows of greenery were hung above the windows, and mistletoe dangled from above at various spots around the room.

In the soft light of the candleglow, she could see her father laughing with a friend to one side of the room, and her brother and his wife cozy together in a corner.

She felt a pang. Could she really leave her family? She looked at them again, each secure and content in their own lives, in a way that she was deeply, profoundly not. She squared her shoulders and continued searching.


	14. Prompt: January 6: Epiphany - realization, sudden understanding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A longer chapter to finish this off. Enjoy!

At the far end of the ballroom, a man stood apart. His dark coat was exquisitely tailored, and his hair was brushed back neatly. She met his gaze, and gasped.

It was the Doctor.

How could he have changed clothes and gained entrance to the ball in the time since she had left him in the church? _Of course,_ she thought. _A time traveler._

Quickly, she made her way past dancing couples and hurriedly greeted various friends and acquaintances. It seemed to take an eternity to reach him, but finally she stood just inches away from the man she thought she had mistakenly pushed away.

He smiled, and her heart fluttered.

“Merry Christmas, Effie,” he said, echoing his first words to her of just hours earlier.

“Merry Christmas, Doctor,” she replied politely, completely unsure of the etiquette of this situation. “I…” She stopped. What was it she wanted to say?

“I hoped I might find you here.” He took her hand and ran his thumb across her palm, sending sparks of sensation up her arm. She suddenly felt as breathless as when she had run home. When she had run away from him.

“And I hoped I might find you,” she managed. “My mother said she saw you here.”

He laughed quietly. “Yes, your mother has been watching out for you. She gave me quite the questioning a couple of years ago--demanded to know who I was, what I wanted with you. I think I convinced her that I was no threat.”

Effie covered her mouth with her free hand in mortification, but laughed. “That does sound like Mama. I think she quite likes you, now.”

“She wants you to live your own life, to be happy. Her care for you is admirable.”

Effie nodded. “She’s right. I’ve been hiding here, hiding from what I truly wanted.”

The Doctor took a step forward, until they were only inches away from each other and she had to tilt her head up to look at him. Again, the breathlessness. 

“And what is it you want, Effie?”

“You,” she whispered, and then blushed at her bold answer. “I mean to say, I would like to go with you. To travel, through space and time. To see other worlds.”

The Doctor squeezed her hand. “I would enjoy that very much, Euphrenia Bright. I would like to show you the stars.”

She thought she could lose herself in his eyes, in his smile. What could the stars possibly offer that would dazzle her more than this feeling, right here? 

“What do we do now?” she asked.

He smiled again, and cupped her cheek with his hand. “We could dance,” he offered. Then he glanced up at the ceiling. “Or…” 

She followed his gaze, and laughed to see a sprig of mistletoe just above them. As she returned her eyes to his he leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers.

It was a chaste kiss, given that they were in a room full of people. No doubt they would be scandalized anyway, but she could not care. Not when she could feel him, feel his concentration entirely focused on her, feel his warmth radiating through the thin fabric of her dress.

His lips were slightly rough, and he smelled of winter air and pine. He brushed his mouth lightly on hers, his tongue tasting just the edge of her lower lip. Her knees felt wobbly and the noise of the party faded away until there was only him. Only his hand on her cheek, only the quiet sound of his hum of pleasure reverberating through her.

He lifted his head an inch and smiled slowly.

“Shall we, Effie?”


End file.
